Their summer was over, and for most of our group the return to Hogwarts was more welcoming than a return to school should be. For Lily, it meant she could get away from her sister's snide remarks. Sirius could escape the verbal abuse of his parents. Remus no longer had to see those sneaked wary glances, as though he were going to turn into a werewolf and attack them at any minute. Alex didn't have to put up with Jenny for another year. Even Alice, who had been becoming more of a friend to Lily and Alex in the final few months of the previous year, had her reasons for wanting to return.

Their journey to school was uneventful. Their train ride was long, filled with mixed feelings of anticipation for the new year and a sense of sadness in knowing that their summer was over. The most exciting thing to happen was the accidental cursing of two Slytherin second years. This resulted in the two, one a platinum blonde and the other a greasy black-haired boy, being magically joined at the hip. The latter of who was forced to sing "Bah Bah Black Sheep" while the former was clothed in a fuchsia dress with lime green spots. They did find their carriages onto the grounds interesting though. After all, it's not everyday they see carriages moving by themselves, even in the magical world.

And so the minute they arrived at the main building they were sent to be seated in the Great Hall. With the sorting over, Dumbledore stood up to talk.

"Welcome students old and new to another year at Hogwarts. This year we welcome not only our first year students but also Professor Minerva McGonagall as the new Transfiguration professor and Head of Gryffindor House. She will be taking over the position of Professor Gemias who passed away over the summer. As she completed her training here, most of you will already know her, but I would like you to join in welcoming her officially to Hogwarts."

The whole school stood and toasted her arrival, after which the usual notices were given and the feast started.

"Well I think the last nights of holidays are always the best," James said inserting himself into a conversation were people were talking about the better days of their holidays. "Isn't that right Evans?" He was shouting across the table playfully now.

Lily looked up at him with a blank stare. "Isn't what right?" her voice was cold, but for once not startling him.

"That the last night of a holiday is always the best." He told her with a grin.

She looked as though she were going to turn around and ignore him, that is, until she spoke. "You know what? You are so right." This surprised James as she continued. "It allows us to see what people are really like and offers us the chance to remember why we stopped liking old friends in the first place. But most of all, it gives us a sense of power so that we can get on with our lives." With that she turned form him, he was fairly certain she had a self-satisfied smile on her face, though he didn't know why.

As he took in her words, James heard Alex ask what that had all been about. Unfortunately he didn't hear the response, just saw Alex nod every now and then.

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"What was that all about?" Alex asked Lily, who noticed with a smile that she was completely confused.

"Nothing, just something that happened last night." Lily saw Alex was looking at her expectantly so with a sigh she continued. "James and his parents had dinner at my house last night. I assume the reason he found it to be so good was because he was with Petunia all night. Unfortunately it wasn't good for me who saw it."

Alex still looked confused until it slowly dawned on her. "Wait, you mean like when you saw him with Narcissa?" Lily nodded a strange look on her face. "Eww."

Lily laughed. "I know its gross isn't it?" Alex nodded this time, making Lily smile.

"So tell me about this dinner last night."

Lily pulled a face. "You sure you want to know?" Alex nodded once more. "Well ok, but just remember; you asked."

Lily began telling her about the dinner, odd looks crossing her face now and then. "…And they've agreed to meet up again." She concluded with horror on her face this time.

"It's not that bad," Alex argued as Dumbledore stood up to dismiss them all. They didn't continue the conversation until they were up in their dormitory after sitting in Gryffindor common room for a few minutes.

"It's good to back," Lily commented as she stepped through the door.

Alex dived on her bed. "You're telling me."

Lily joined her, speaking up after a couple of minutes of uncomfortable silence. "You know what, you're right."

Alex frowned. "About what?"

"It not being that bad." Alex continued to look at her blankly making Lily roll her eyes. "About my parents becoming friends with the Potter's." Alex raised an eyebrow in an interested way. "Well think about. What did I say last year after our little…depression? I want to get even at him, remember? I know he didn't do anything, but it still hurt me. I want him to hurt, too. And this way I can do it without him suspecting."

An unreadable look passed over Alex's face before she smiled. "How are you going to do that?"

Lily was silent for a moment. "I don't know yet. But I'll think of-"

Voices sounded on the stairs just seconds before Marie, Alice and Narcissa walked into the dormitory.

"-Something." Lily concluded heading into the bathroom quickly.

When she came out the three mentioned were queuing to use the bathroom. Alex was giving her a look that chilled her somewhat. Trying to brush it off quickly Lily said a quick "Goodnight" before getting into bed, her back facing Alex. She could feel eyes boring into her back, preventing her from sleep, but when she turned around Alex and Alice were deep in conversation and Marie was busy pounding on the bathroom door in the vain hope that it would get Narcissa out faster. Figuring she imagined it, Lily rolled back over and went to sleep.

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"Well that's done," James announced proudly as he strolled casually into his dormitory the next morning.

Four heads turned to look at him questioningly.

"What's done?" Remus asked warily after a few minutes.

"Me and Narcissa. I just finished with her and-"

"You better not have hurt her," Sirius warned viciously. He might not get on well with his family but that didn't mean he didn't care. Especially when it came to his cousins. He knew they were all still young and so didn't have to end up like the other Black's. Narcissa already showed evidence of this by being sorted into Gryffindor.

"Of course I didn't Sir," James said feigning shock. "All I did was tell her in no uncertain terms that I thought we should no longer be together. She accepted it fine, didn't cry or anything." There was a faint sadness in his voice as he realise this. He pushed it away quickly. "See; no hurt."

Sirius seemed to be thinking this over. "Good," he said eventually.

James said something similar before looking around the room. They had the day off because it was a Sunday and the guys were using it in such an odd way. Peter was playing Wizard Chess with Frank (the latter of who was winning dramatically). Remus was writing, presumably to his parents, and Sirius was, well James wasn't sure he was seeing right at first. That is until he read the cover. This is because Sirius was, for once, reading. The book, James realised, was volume two of the series he had received for Christmas the previous year.

James sat down with a sigh. When did all his friends turn into geeks?

"I'm bored," he complained loudly, twirling his wand between his fingers like a baton. "Oh, wait. I just remembered something I've been dying to try out." He waved his wand idly, watching with glee as the pieces on the chess board transformed into Albanian Pixies wearing lime green dresses with violet spots. Not only this, but they were doing the can-can across the board.

"What the…" Frank started making Sirius and Remus look up and began laughing.

James was laughing too, until he saw Peter lean in for a closer look. "No, Pete. Don't." But his cries fell on deaf ears as Peter poked one making it fly around the room. The others, seeing this as a sign that it was ok, joined their friend. Within minutes the room was in chaos.

Books now minus their pages were thrown everywhere. Clothes littered the floor and photos and other keepsakes were strewn about.

"Peter!" James shouted. "What did you do that for?" At that minute Frank ran out of the room in terror.

"I...I..." Peter couldn't answer for his panic.

Sirius, who was clutching both volume one and two tightly to his chest so as to keep them away from the pixies, turned his head to James. "What did you do? What spell did you use?"

James, whose eyes were wide at the sight, merely shrugged. "I don't know. It was just something I made up during the holidays."

Sirius looked like he was going to say something he should regret but in this situation wouldn't have when stern voice cut in. "What is going on here?" Looking in its direction James saw an irate Professor McGonagall in the doorway. Behind her stood a scared Frank.

"Well-er-you see Professor," James began as he tried to think of a plausible explanation. "We were all just sat here when the pixies flew in and started attacking us."

McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "And it happened just like that did it?" James nodded fervently giving his friends looks to agree. Remus and Sirius joined in after a while but Peter just looked at them blankly and Frank was still too scared to move.

With an unconvinced look on her face McGonagall said, "How odd that Albanian Pixies would be found so far out of Albania."

A nervous look passed over James face. "Yes, odd. But not impossible."

McGonagall gave him an unreadable look whilst pulling out her wand. With a wave the pixies stopped in mid-air before falling to the floor with a clatter. It appeared they had reverted back to their statuette state, some chipping as they reached the ground.

"Indeed," McGonagall said with a raised eyebrow. "Potter, come with me."

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"Lying, casting unknown spells and endangering people's lives unnecessarily. What do you have to say about this?" Dumbledore implored.

James didn't know what to say. This was his first time in Dumbledore's office and quite frankly he was scared. For him to have been sent there he must have done something worse than usual.

"Don't be so afraid," Dumbledore said lightly after a few moments silence. "There is nothing I can do to you. Nothing drastic anyway. No, the most I can do is expel you." James' face fell making Dumbledore chuckle. "Don't worry Mr Potter, there will be no expulsions. Instead you will have a months worth of in-school suspension. You will be separated from your fellow students and you will eat separately from the other Gryffindors. As we speak a room is being prepared for you to sleep in."

Dumbledore went on to explain the finer points of James' punishment before giving them to him on a sheet of parchment.

"Professor McGonagall will collect you in one hour so I suggest you go pack everything you need and inform your friends."

James nodded before hurrying out of the room.

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As Alex sat doing last minute homework, Lily sat opposite watching her. Her intention, she said, was to keep Alex company, but so far all she had done was scold Alex, pausing occasionally to write something on a piece of parchment.

"…I still can't believe you haven't done this," Lily said again. "I mean, what would you have done if we didn't have today off?"

Alex looked up from her parchment, finally tired of Lily's rant. "Well I can't believe you're still going on about it. And anyway, if we didn't have today off I obviously would have done it already. As it is we do have today off, and I'm choosing to spend it doing my homework." She paused for a moment. "You know, not all of us had three weeks grounding to do it in. Some of us had lives."

Lily looked horrified. Before she even opened her mouth she knew that what she was about to say would make her sound like a nerd. "I didn't do it then, it was all done before the holidays even started. I was doing…other things during those three weeks." Saying this gave her an idea, letting her add to the list of things she was writing.

"You're kid…" Alex began but thought better of it. "Of course you're not. Look, whatever. The sooner you leave me alone the sooner I will get this done." There was a tone in her voice that Lily didn't like, almost a warning.

"Fine, I'll make it like I was never here."

Lily collected all of her things from the table, including her favourite quill that Alex was writing with. She exchanged it for the battered one belonging to Alex, the one she'd been writing with. With a sweet smile and a short "'bye" Lily moved over to the other side of the room, leaving a fuming Alex to glower after her.

Moving had allowed Lily to hear what the Marauders were up to, and it was more interesting than her list.

"You will always be in the company of a professor; you are not permitted to talk to anyone but that professor. Contact with anyone other than this professor will result in a further week's suspension. You will have separate lessons and the set work and homework will be double that of your normal load; you are expected to complete all of it." She heard Remus say as though he were reading from a card.

"Man, those rules are stupid. It's more like they're putting you in solitary confinement." This was Sirius' voice.

James laughed, Lily cut in to it. "What have you done to get a punishment like that?" She couldn't help herself from asking.

"What's it to you, Evans? Are you feeling sorry for me?"

"Yeah," she answered sarcastically. "That's it."

"Any chance that means you like me?" he asked as though she had been serious.

"Oh yeah, I meant to tell you; I'm madly in love with you. I want to marry you and have your children. Get real Potter."
He didn't seem to expect anything as big as that sardonic revelation. Lily could tell that he was trying to think of a witty come back. She could also tell he was relieved to be spared from any such ridicule at being unable to do this thinking by the appearance of Professor McGonagall.

"Mr Potter, I trust you have your things ready?"

Lily watched as he nodded and pointed to a trunk.

"Good, come along then."

James stood and began to follow the professor who had charmed his trunk to follow them.

Before she knew what she was doing, Lily was up and talking. "Professor," she called making both McGonagall and James turn around. Now what was she going to say? "Uh-I was wondering if I could just talk to P…James for a moment."

McGonagall seemed to be deliberating whether this was a good idea or not. "Just for a minute Evans."

"Thank you," she said taking James to one side.

"I knew you weren't joking before," he commented following it with his trademark grin.

Lily's eyes rolled before she could stop them. "Actually, I just wanted to tell you that suspension isn't a good enough punishment." He looked at her curiously. "No, because you never learn do you? They should try something else."

He folded his arms. "Do you have something in mind?" She noticed with disgust that there was an impish expression on his face.

Instead of getting angry or frustrated she smiled with a look that rivalled his. "Oh, I might have a few ideas."

A cough sounded reminding her that James was supposed to be going.

"See you later Potter," she called as he left the common room.